Colin CarrieConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health

Mr. Speaker, our hearts go out to patients who have had adverse drug reactions. Our government has taken a leadership role in working with the provinces and territories to develop ways that we can work with them to address this issue. We do see it as a very significant part of the Canadian health care system.

The Conservatives have failed to respond to hundreds of reports revealing serious side effects associated with drugs commonly sold in pharmacies. Over 600 cases have been identified of children suffering from serious, and even fatal, side effects. Hundreds of families are worried and they deserve information about this troubling situation.

Colin CarrieConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health

Mr. Speaker, the member should know that in Canada drugs are not allowed to be sold until scientists working with Health Canada have verified that they are safe when used as directed. Once approved, these drugs are subject to regular scientific review based on the latest information available. Canadian families should always speak to their family physician before taking any prescriptions or providing one to any children.

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Public Safety were in Regina to meet with their provincial and territorial counterparts where this matter was a major topic of discussion. Our government attaches great importance to the issue of missing and murdered aboriginal women. We are working with those counterparts to further develop strategies, coordinate efforts and share expertise on the issue.

In January 2012, a comprehensive missing woman report was released providing 52 recommendations. The province has recently acknowledged that our government has already implemented most of those recommendations at the federal level. We are taking this seriously and we are taking action.

Mr. Speaker, media reports describe Sub-Lieutenant Delisle's responsibilities as, “I prepare all the threat assessments for the ships when they deploy overseas, to any port”. That means that a Russian spy was communicating some of our most important military intelligence to his masters.

Instead of letting this spy scandal leak out article by article, why does the minister not convene a judicial inquiry so that Canadians and our allies can have their confidence restored in our security system?

Mr. Speaker, people from Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal are suffering through some of the longest and worst commute times in North America. Residents are either dodging falling concrete from Toronto's Gardiner Expressway or a giant sinkhole in Ottawa, and water quality is at risk in hundreds—

Mr. Speaker, the member should know, just as the FCM does, that this is a case of responsible accounting and only that. It does not indicate a cut to any infrastructure program. The federal government does not grant funds to proponents until projects are completed.

Mr. Speaker, we will make another attempt at getting an intelligible answer.

Canada's infrastructure is in bad shape. In Quebec, outdated water mains are exploding under pressure, overpasses are falling apart and collapsing, and ports, like the one in Trois-Rivières, are waiting for funding for development projects.

While stakeholders are being told to wait until 2014 because there is no more money to fund current programs, we have learned that $2 billion from the 2011 budget—which was supposed to be allocated to infrastructure—has not been spent.

The provinces and cities fund projects because roads and highways have always been a provincial area of jurisdiction. The NDP has it all wrong.

The bills are being paid for as they come in. The provinces and organizations look after this. The bills are paid when the work is complete. Projects have been well managed over the years. That is a fact. There have been no cutbacks to infrastructure programs.

Mr. Speaker, today marks the beginning of Financial Literacy Month in Canada. With the recent global financial turbulence and the introduction of more financial products and services, financial literacy has become more important than ever for Canadian families. It means more money in their pockets and not in those of the banks and others.

Could the Minister of State (Finance) share the actions that our government is taking to promote financial literacy right here in Canada?

Mr. Speaker, indeed, financial literacy is very important to Canadians. That is why we have chosen November as the month to highlight the importance of being able to provide to Canadians a source of information so that they can make informed decisions for themselves. Unfortunately, much of the consumer protection legislation that we have put forward, the NDP has actually voted against.

Our initiative is giving Canadians better tools and more transparency when dealing with banks. We have also put in place credit card reforms to ensure that Canadians are better protected. However, as I have said, unfortunately, the NDP seems to like to vote against all of these protections.

Mr. Speaker, two former high-ranking Afghan officials have been invited to Canada to speak at a university conference in Ottawa. Citizenship and Immigration Canada officials told them they had to travel to Pakistan to get their visas, which could be akin to imposing a death sentence on them.

Can the minister explain why this would not be qualified as a special circumstance and authorize visas to be issued in Kabul so that their lives would not be put in jeopardy? Why is the government effectively denying entry to Afghans who some years and months ago were allies of Canada?

Mr. Speaker, the article upon which the question is based is inaccurate.

We issue visas very frequently to visiting Afghan officials who, if they have permission from their own foreign ministry or ours, can drop off their application directly at our mission in Kabul. Those who do not, typically courier their applications to our processing centre in Islamabad. No one has to travel there unless they are called in for an interview, which is not the case with respect to applications like these.

One of the individuals who was mentioned in the article has not applied for a visa, either at Kabul or Islamabad, and I understand the visa application of the other individual is before decision makers at Islamabad as we speak.

Christian ParadisConservativeMinister of Industry and Minister of State (Agriculture)

On the contrary, Mr. Speaker, we believe in foreign investment that provides a net benefit for Canada. We have our businesses in the global supply chain and we have a solid environment for business here. We have low taxes. We are opening market opportunities.

It is the total opposite of what the NDP is proposing: a global and job-killing carbon tax of $21 billion on the shoulders of Canadians. That would kill the economy, every single region of this country, and we will not go down—

Mr. Speaker, in the weeks leading up to Remembrance Day, Canadians across the country will take time to remember the sacrifices made by those who selflessly served our country in defence of our core values and freedoms. Canadians from coast to coast to coast will visit war memorials on November 11 and pay their respects to Canada's fallen soldiers. These war memorials are sacred ground and should be treated with the utmost respect.

Mr. Speaker, our Canadian war memorials should be treated with the utmost respect. That is why yesterday our government's members supported Bill C-217, an act to protect war memorials and cenotaphs in Canada, rightly brought forward by the member for Dufferin—Caledon.

I would have liked the New Democrat members to set aside their ideology out of respect for our fallen soldiers.

Unfortunately, the NDP voted against the bill. They voted against penalties for those who intentionally defile permanent tributes to Canada's fallen heroes.

Mr. Speaker, as we all know, the railroad has played a key role in Canada's history.

Yet, as the country's 150th birthday approaches, the Conservatives are refusing to recognize Exporail as a national museum, despite the fact that a report of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage recommended that the House recognize it as such in 2007.

Exporail is a source of pride for my riding, the entire region and railroad enthusiasts throughout Canada.

Why are the Conservatives refusing to give this museum the status it deserves?

Paul CalandraConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Canadian Heritage

Mr. Speaker, as my hon. colleague knows, the committee did bring forward a 150 report, which will be somewhat of a road map to help celebrate the best country in the world, Canada, on our 150th birthday.

Unfortunately, when we brought forward to the House the creation of two new national museums, one in Winnipeg and the Pier 21 Museum of Immigration, the NDP voted against it. We recently brought forward a new $25 million investment for the new Museum of Canadian History. The NDP members, without even seeing the legislation, have already said they will be voting against that as well.